NC Carpet Binding & Equipment (NCB&E), a long-time supplier of sewing and upholstery machines to the aviation industry, is highlighting its recent setups of sewing machine shops for Embraer Executive Jets at its Melbourne, Fla., factory and Airworthy Aerospace, a Wisconsin-based airline interiors provider. NCB&E will also announce here at the NBAA show its newest factory upholstery shop setup, said Mal Maher, CEO of the Newark, N.J.-based company. NCB&E customers include all major business aircraft OEMs, MROs such as Duncan Aviation and Jet Aviation, interiors and refurbishment shops and “the FAA and all four military branches,” said Maher.
NCB&E (Booth 745) is displaying both long- and standard-arm and single- and double-needle sewing machines, as well as carpet serging machines and cutting tools. Company representatives are on hand to advise attendees on any questions regarding upholstery and seat covering.
“We recommend carpet mills and pass out leads for other vendors more than we sell our own machines at NBAA,” said Maher. However, for attendees seeking greater control over quality and costs of their upholstery, NC can explain how to take the work in-house and provide assessment, factory setup and training for those who wish to proceed. “Their costs will be exponentially less in terms of the finished product” compared to outsourcing, Maher said. “It doesn’t have to be a fresh startup; someone might need newer, better and faster machines that make it easier to manipulate the material. We can help make their operation 30 to 40 percent more efficient, and save them money.”
Each setup project and customer need is unique, said Maher, whose family-owned business was established in the 1950s. The recent work for Airworthy Aerospace illustrates one aspect of its customer support. Airworthy already owned 15 of NCB&E’s carpet serging machines when a major airline requested a bid on a contract for seat fabrication and sent the company a sample seat. Not surprisingly, Airworthy, which hadn’t previously performed seat fabrication work, contacted NCB&E; Bryan Lidsky, Airworthy’s vice-president of sales and marketing, said NCB&E’s “top-notch serging equipment and other products withstand our constant, non-stop usage, and their maintenance service and turn times never disappoint.”
At Maher’s request, Airworthy shipped NCB&E the sample seat. “We analyzed it and determined all the machine setups required,” Maher said. Airworthy won the contract, and the new machines are now up and running.
